Pittman adviser named county budget officer

Trumbauer has served as acting head since October; virtual town halls upcoming

Anne Arundel’s second pandemic- era budget process will be overseen by Chris Trumbauer, a top adviser to County Executive Steuart Pittman, who has been selected to permanently serve as budget officer.

Trumbauer has a decade of experience working with the county budget, including eight years serving on the Anne Arundel

County Council and two years as a senior adviser to Pittman. He had been acting budget officer since previous budget head JimBeauchamp departed inOctober.

“Chris Trumbauer has been, and will remain, a pillar of our administration,” Pittman said in a release.“He has counseled our team in every aspect of governing from the day I took office, including and especially during budget season. By installing Chris as Budget Officer, we ensure that fiscal discipline is at the forefront of every decision we make throughout the year, and that there is a robust line of communication between the budget team and the administration. This brilliant and generous public servant will continue to guide me and our team through the challengeswe face in the coming years.”

The budget process will begin publicly starting Jan. 14 with a series of seven online town halls.

Like Pittman’s hosted in person for the first two years of his term, he will host one town hall in each councilmanic district to give residents a say in how their tax money is being spent. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the town hallswill take place via Zoom and Facebook Live.

The councilmember representing the district will be present at the online town hall, andresidentswillhave the opportunity to make comments presentation.

Ahead of the town halls, residents can work with the online budget tool to make suggestions about where to add and subtract money, and where that money should comefrom. It gives residents theopportunity to see what increased or decreased property and income taxeswould mean for the county, and asks users to rank their priorities from a list including teacher pay and social services for low- income residents. Users can also leave written comments and have the option to leave contact information.

after a

brief budget

Residents need to register for the town hall Zoom webinars online by using this link: aacounty. org/ yourbudget.

Here is a list of town halls in order of district:

District 1 budget town hall with Council Chair Sarah Lacey, D- Jessup: 6 p. m. on Jan. 28

District2budget townhallwith Councilwoman Allison Pickard, D- Glen Burnie: 6 p. m. on Feb. 3

District 3budget townhallwith Councilman Nathan Volke, R- Pasadena: 6 p. m. on Feb 4

District4budget townhallwith Councilman Andrew Pruski, G- Gambrills: 6 p. m. on Jan. 14

District 5 budget town hall with Councilmember Amanda Fiedler: 6 p. m. on Jan. 25

District6budget townhallwith Councilwoman Lisa Brannigan Rodvien, D- Annapolis: 6 p. m. on Feb. 8

District 7 budget town hall with Councilmember JessicaHaire: 6 p. m. on Jan. 27